Published: February 1, 2026
Outside the window, night had fallen, and moonlight, unobstructed by even a single cloud, poured into the room.
But that light alone was not enough, so a second light shone—one not provided with the room, but created from his own mana, a steady, gentle glow without even the slightest flicker.
It was a light Lizel had conjured solely to read the book in his hands as he sat on the bed.
From time to time faint voices and sounds drifted in from outside, but they were so soft that one would not notice them without consciously listening. Spending such a quiet night at ease, he sat with an unconsciously straight back, impeccable posture, eyes lowered as he immersed himself in the world of the book.
“Hand.”
Without warning, his sleeve was pinched from behind by fingers that slid in and tugged it sharply to the side.
Lizel pulled his mind up from complete concentration and glanced at his own hand. The fingertips, idly playing with the corner of the page, had curled inward slightly.
I did it again, he thought, smiling wryly as he took hold of the fingers still clutching his sleeve, as if praising them. The fingers, satisfied, curled around his little finger, then let go.
“Thank you, Eleven.”
“Nn.”
Flat on his back behind Lizel, sprawled over most of the bed, Eleven narrowed his eyes as he rolled over onto his back.
The reason Lizel was seated on the bed rather than in a chair in the first place was the man who had claimed the bed as if it were his by right. Eleven had wandered into the room, started lazing about, and then slapped the bed insistently as if to say “Hurry up and get over here,” so Lizel had obliged and joined him.
They had talked for a while about things like the underground casino they’d recently visited, but perhaps Eleven had not been pleased that Lizel had grown a bit too absorbed in his book. Still lying on his back, Eleven squirmed over and caught the hand Lizel had just freed.
“This time, the leader’s makin’ it super obvious what he’s up to.”
“Is that so?”
“Totally.”
Rubbing the captured palm against the scales on his cheek, Eleven looked up into Lizel’s gently smiling face, as if trying to read his intent.
Judging from what he’d heard at the guild and from Lizel’s recent behavior, “blatant” was the word that came to mind. He seemed very clearly to be trying to establish a connection with that man—a scholar, and a member of the royal family.
Normally, no matter who the other party was, even a royal, if Lizel wanted to see them he’d make them come to him, or so Eleven believed. If Lizel heard that, he would probably give a wry smile and say Eleven was overestimating him, but to Eleven it seemed obvious he could do it—should do it, even. Perhaps that was because Lizel was a purebred noble to the core.
“Do you wanna see him that bad?”
He felt the gentle pressure of his cheek scales being pushed.
Snake beastmen normally disliked having their scales touched, and Eleven was no exception. Even so, being touched by Lizel felt pleasant, and even if it didn’t, he was willing to endure it for someone who clearly liked the feel of his scales. He knew full well what a lost cause that made him.
The sensation of fingers tracing the border between skin and scales tickled; he chuckled in his throat and pressed his cheek against the fingers.
“Of course I want to meet him. It took me more than ten years to decode the ancient language myself, so knowing there’s someone else working that hard makes me honestly happy.”
“Ugh, it took that long, huh.”
“I had it easy, really. I at least had the hint ‘the songs are letters.’ Anyone who could realize from zero that those were a language in the first place is amazing.”
For Eleven, even if someone told him “the songs are letters,” he’d just answer with a “Huh, neat” and leave it at that. The idea of equating that to a language would simply never occur to him. So to him, this was not “having it easy” at all.
Murmuring “Hmm,” he savored the feel of the calming palm gently patting his cheek. As the hand pulled away, he watched it with his eyes while rolling from his back onto his stomach.